This year, in honour of Modernism Week, we climbed atop the double decker bus for the 4th Annual Palm Desert Architecture Tour. Funny enough, our tour guide was from Vancouver. Palm Desert, we learn, was about ‘the glamourous good life of Twentieth Century America.’ A string of renowned architects solidified the style known

You can learn a lot about a place from its independent bookstores. One of our favourites is Pages in Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles. We spoke to Margot Farris, the Vancouver born and bred co-founder. What is it that you think makes Pages so unique? It is an independent bookstore created

Of all the places we visited in Italy, we were most unsure about Venice. With the gondolas, the serenading, the much-photographed pigeon squares, we worried that we knew too much about the city, that the endless onslaught of we tourists would have robbed the city of its natural charm. We

This month, we were delighted to visit the HCMC atelier of Vietnamese designer, Trinh Hoang Dieu. With shoes off and the evening lights dimmed, we crept lightly around the room. The Dieu dresses have a modern elegance that is rooted clearly in Vietnamese tradition. I spent a little too much time ogling

Tokyo is a fascinating mix of the past and the future – from ancient Buddhist temples to hotels staffed entirely by robots. With its special wards, prefectures, subprefectures and massive population, we short-term visitors cannot claim to understand Tokyo. We can wander, wide-eyed, through the vibrant sub-cultures, admiring the creative fashion, art and food and seeing

Salty the aristocratic dog was over it, but the rest of the crowd was merrily wandering between artist stalls at the Gabriola Street Art Festival. There were jewellers, painters, sculptors, glass-artists, sign-makers, face painters, giant bubble makers and clothiers. The Street Art Festival runs beside the Gabriola Theatre Festival, which this year includes One

For whom do you think the 19th Century shoes below were crafted? a. an assassin b. a chesnut crusher c. a dominatrix d. a palace lawn aerator These horror film shoes are on display at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. That’s right: an entire museum filled with shoes. Couture shoes,

Hans Christian Andersen – creator of The Ugly Duckling, Little Mermaid, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Thumbelina, The Snow Queen, inspiration for Frozen – is the pride of Denmark. He was born 1805 in Odense to a washerwoman mother and a shoemaker dad. Andersen died on August 4th, 1875 in Copenhagen.

Stockholm is such a photogenic city, it’s not surprising to see people taking selfies at every turn. It’s fitting that Sweden’s National Museum, headquartered in Stockholm, has curated Selfies. Now and Then from its collection. A selfie, they argue, is a natural descendent of the self-portrait. Artists, like Rembrandt, painted

As we traveled around Norway, we were thrilled to discover the most beautiful little fjord-side town: Leikanger. With its population of just over 2,000, Leikanger is nestled beside Norway’s famous Sognefjorden, the third longest fjord in the world. As you walk along the quiet lane-like roads, you’ll see white houses and abundant fruit